I have quite a few Christmas cacti,that I move in and out of my screened porch every year. A bunch of daylilies,some were here when we bought the place,and some I've added. We have very little area that is in sun,so I'm limited to shade plants.

Since my yard previously had very little shade, I was into native prairie plants. These quickly got out of control and my interests turned to other perennials that were available, but not so quick to spread.

I loved woodland plants, but with little shade available I couldn't grow many. Last year we added a patio behind our house and there was shade there, so I was able to start thinking about shade plants and soon became aware of the numerous varities of hosta.

This is a picture of my sunny perennial garden. Looking up towards the house you can see the first part of the patio as it was still in progress then. Note the nice shady area back there where I now have my hosta beds. Unfortunately all those trees providing that shade are Maples.
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I still love native wildflowers, I'm just more careful what I introduce into my garden now.

Janet

I grow the usual line up, daylily, iris, peony, poppy, etc. I find that my sun beds take up way more time than my hosta beds ever do. Attached is a picture of one of my sun beds in bloom. The tree in the picture is no more. It was an ugly soft maple and so, it is now in maple heaven.

Diann

Phil, you like cacti too?! That is so cool!

Janet and Diann your gardens are lovely! I've got a lot of work to do to come close to your beds. Very nice!

Diann what are those flowers near the center that appear to be a chocolate color? Are they poppies?

Probably peony. This picture is from 04 and I've moved things about since then. :) Yeah, they are peony, just don't ask me which one... I'd have to go out and look. My brain is such a sive anymore.

Diann

Wow, Peonies?!? Hmmm, beautiful, I have to get myself some of those. Diann if you do happen to come across the name tag at some point, I'd really appreciate it, they're super!

I've got a thing for big leaves so I also grow Elephant Ears. Lately I've gotten into Plumeria as well, not as big leaves but love those flowers!

A few daylily, sedum, one peony, some annuals, and 5 ACRES OF POISON IVY!

Neat Daisy. Are these the same sweet scented flowers that I oogled over in Hawaii? Do you bring them in for the winter? They get pretty tall, don't they?

Daisy, I also grow E Ears. I just moved 2 of my big ones inside for the winter, along wiith 3 or 4 Dwarf Banana trees. My ears are my pride and joy. LOL
phil

Lots of stuff!

Roses, Peonys, Daylilys, Columbines, Iris, Echinaceas, just starting with Hellebores, Ferns, and those trendy Heucheras. LOL!

Alexa

Besides hostas, I am coneflower crazy! Maybe it's because you can prettty ignore them too and they still grow. Not sure the driveway theory works on them though!

Yep, Plumeria are those gorgeous flowers that seem to perfume the all the islands of Hawaii. That's what got me hooked--we were on Maui last year and drove around most of the day with a single bloom laying on the dash. The car smelled soooooo good!

This is my first year for Plumeria so mine aren't that big. But yes, you bring them in for the winter, mine will head to the spare bedroom.

The EE's come in also, they'll head to the garage and sleep for the winter. I tried Bananas also, but none have made it through winter for me, and boy is that an expensive plant to kill every year! Phil, any tips on overwintering a Banana?

We talk about what else we grow,so I thought I'd share a pic of a plant that grows at my house,but I can't take credit for this one. God put it here many years ago. This is a native flame Azalea that grows right in front of my front door,beside the deck. This is from April,this year.This is only a part of the plant,as it is huge! Phil
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Phil, That is an incredibly beautiful plant!

Diann

Tomatoes - 4 kinds, Carnival squash, several types of coneflowers, 10+ heuchera, and a cascading campanula.

lol@ poision ivy, sassy.

Ligularia (loooooooove them!), brunerra, epimedium, coneflower crazy (high five, Jen), specialty conifers, hellebores, kiroshenga palmatum, aroids, daylilies, iris (focus on rebloomers), hardy hibiscus....I could go on and on...but those are the main ones!

What I *don't* grow: Annuals and house plants!

I agree with you ademink, no house plants - too hard to grow because I need mother natures help.

I collect Alliums, poppies, daylilies, iris, heuchura, peonies, and hosta, plus one of everything else...

This year I decided to take a new approach to gardening -- stop collecting one of everything and create multiple mass plantings of the plants I love most. A few weeks ago I began, dividing my two favorite daylilies (Victoria Grace and Norman S. Track) and planting them in numerous spots around the edge of my 80' perennial island. However, I admit that I am weak. That same week I was introduced to a new daylily source and purchased five new varieties.

What little space I have left from my growing collection of hosta is devoted to heuchera (there are so many new varieties!) Astillbe, and peonys. I also have developed a real passion for heaths and heathers.
Phil, your Azalea is beautiful!

Oh my, what don't I grow, you name it, I'm sure I have it somewhere, but I have the room to do so.

Guess another of my passions is herbs. I ripped out the box hedges on one side of my house and put in a herb garden and I like the feel of it. But more, I love to weed it because I have long hair and as I weed, my hair brushes against the herbs and I get wiffs of them all day, I do love the smell of herbs, I'm forever 'petting' them and then smelling my hands as I walk through the gardens.

This was once just lined with square box hedges, now it contributes to my cooking. BTW, I have since added another white latice and they are both covered in vines to finish the look.

Guess my second biggest collection is daylilies, have the flippen things everywhere, they grow like weeds for me. I must have as many varieties of them as I do hostas, but I couldn't tell you the name of a single one other than the ditch lilies that line one sitting area, lol.

One of my smaller daylily beds, just the one I have a pic of.

And daylilies can be grown with hostas, I swear I take out at least half this patch every year and it still trys to overtake the area.

After that, I guess iris's are third on the list, again, tons of varieties, just do not ask me the name of a single one.

Oh yea, and I also have a thing for sunflowers, always tons of those.

This is one of my self seeds.

And then there is the water gardening, I do so love my water plants, have them in a half acre natural pond with several 2 foot long koi.

And vines, especially the eat your house type that I keep far away from my house, lol,

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And there is the native wild flowers, annuals, container gardens, shade plants other than hostas, roses, hydrageas, flowering shrubs, fruit trees and shrubs, perennials, veggies, especially heirloom tomatoes, oh dang, name it, I do it, I like to fill my space and my space has a growing condition for about everything hardy in my area, some not hardy but grow anyhow and of course, my cactus.

Oh yea, I also grow turkeys, grow them from tiny poults to big old handsome things. Or at least they are handsome in my eyes.

Anything perennial that will survive in zone 4. Sometimes I push it and try a zone 5 plant. Epimediums have made, it as well as a ginger with silver markings on the leaves that was supposed to be only be zone 6 hardy. I just bought it to use as an annual thinking it wouldn't survive to the following year. Go figure!!!
House plants and annuals I tend to kill. I tried an orchid cause I love them. Its demise was not pretty. Right now I'm trying african violets cause I found pots that have an insert that waters the plant all by itself...
I have had the same Christmas cactus for lots of years. I put it outside all summer and bring it in when there is a threat of frost. Thursday night to be exact. It was already budded. The cool nights do that.
Von

Wow Choco! Very nice!! What do you do with your birds when they grow up? Your gardens and your pup are beautiful. :) Those turkey's have some beautiful colors!

Your unknown blue looks like a Blue Angel. (at least it does to me. :) )

Diann

Hi Tick, my birds are never eaten, it that is what you are wondering. They are heirloom varieties, I raise them to keep the breed alive, I will give them away before I sell them for butcher. Many of the livestock breeds that kept the settlers alive are now becoming extinct due to modern farming practices and the desire for animals that grow fast with little care. You can eat them, but you will find them far different than the butterball you pick up at Thanksgiving. They will be leaner, tougher and smaller. Modern turkeys are about the most stupid things ever breed, well that is if they could breed, modern turkeys are no longer able to do that, breeding is artifical and the hens have no desire to sit or raise poults, they actually deserve to be ate and I do eat turkey, just don't tell my kids that, lol. My turkeys are closer to wild turkeys, they are very intelligent, able to free range, breed naturally, and the hens sit and raise their own babies. Sorry, one of my soap box things, I may be a modern girl, a real techno junkie, but I also believe in keeping the past alive and do so in many aspects of my life, don't even get me going on heirloom plants, lol.

I know my unknown blue is not a Blue Angel, I have a couple of those and love them. I'm leaning towards Blue Mountains. I know I got one and I know it was planted in that area, but sometimes I don't replace the tags the chickens scratch up before I remember for sure, so I just label it as unknown. I keep hoping the hosta library would get a pic of a mature plant, but so far they only have one pic of a young plant. If anyone has a pic of a mature Blue Mountains, I would love to see it, maybe I'll ask on the other forum, the 'only the facts' one, lol.

I see you have one of those carrion flowers! I used to have one on my screened porch in Fla. and you should have seen the flies it attracted on the OUTSIDE of the screen! Phil

Phil, yes it stinks, but you see the fun I have asking people to smell it and then watching the looks on their face, I can be so evil sometimes, lol.

Somehow I didn't think you probably munched on your turkeys. :) They do have some of the prettiest coloration I've seen in a bird. Wild turkeys were re-introduced here about 15 or 20 years ago and they have taken off really well. You'll see flocks of them all over the place.

Big blue hostas are really hard to identify sometimes, thus, I make sure I keep the tags for them. :)

Diann

I grow anything I can get my hands on, but my favorites are, Hosta, Daylilies, Iris, Elephant Ears, Cannas, Peonies and roses (don't really have the ground for it, but I grow em anyway, the blooms arent huge or anything, but they will do) oh and my houseplant collection, 40 of em and going strong, my problem is I divide them in the winter so I wind up with around 60 or so by the time winter is over, my husband has said that before it's over I will of kicked him and his chair outside to make room for another plant!
I never have been able to grow cacti however, my son just loves them to pieces, but everytime I try they die, I just don't have the touch with them.
chocolateis= my mother has all kinds of birds too, do you have any peacocks? those are quite the conversation piece let me tell you, the male will be calling for the female(she is always snobbing him) and it will sound like a women is saying "help!" for some reason her female turkey Gert has fallen in love with that male though, and she just follows that peacock everywhere, and then she has a Rooster that every time you try to grab him, he falls down and acts like her fainting goats, then there is her 20 year old quarter horse stud that wonders around with one of my mom's cats sitting on his back, it's the funny farm I tell you! everytime you go to get on a 4-wheeler you have 4 dogs (2 of em Australian cattledogs) trying to climb on and find a spot to sit! insane (we love every minute of it)

Bring on some photos of the Elephant Ears - I would love to see them.

Those speckled Turkeys are downright handsome.

The speckled turkeys are nice and most unusual, but that dark one has some beautiful rich coloration. He just glows. :)

Diann